Peat moss

[Stoney Lake Aquatics]

I’m looking to soften my water for some apisto breeding.  I’ve seen a lot of peat moss in box filters being used to do this.  Has anyone done this and if so what brand of peat moss do you recommend?

[AdamTill]

First question is what is your water starting at? We have hard water here and even 9” of peat substrate doesn’t make much of a dent.

 

[gardenman]

Peat is much like crushed coral in that it has a gradual impact over time. Peat softens water and lowers Ph while crushed coral adds calcium and raises Ph. Distilled water is pretty cheap locally. (About $0.80 per gallon at my local Walmart.) It is by definition "soft" water. If anything it might be too pure and need remineralization. You could try diluting your tap water with distilled water to get to the desired hardness.

[Fish Folk]

On 1/20/2021 at 10:18 AM, Stoney Lake Aquatics said:

I’m looking to soften my water for some apisto breeding.  I’ve seen a lot of peat moss in box filters being used to do this.  Has anyone done this and if so what brand of peat moss do you recommend?

Do you have a sump that retains water when it rains someplace on your property? When trying to trigger some trickier species to spawn we sometimes gather rain water that has filtered through the soil down to the level of our basement sump. It often does the trick -- though there's some work involved gathering buckets, etc. 

 

[Fish Folk]

Another thing to try is putting rooibos tea bags in the filter. 

[Emily M]

Wow!!